And we're back in business!

A huge 3 Peas thank you goes out to Andrew, who saved us from a foreseeable future of cyberspace withdrawal! He had an unused power cord that was compatible with my laptop and just like that, presto swapo, our laptop is back up and running!!

I have been up and at my mom's (free internet here! and she's away!) since the sun peeked out from behind the barn at my house and I have been writing my fingers off for the past few hours AND, more importantly, learning how to submit freelance work to magazines and newspapers. (There is A LOT to learn.) Apparently my incomparable ability to communicate my humorous twist on being a mom of crazy people is NOT enough to make me any money. There are rules to learn, formats to follow and guidelines to adhere to - YUCK! Now, some of you may remember that back in the beginning of my unemployed stint I was writing things with the intention to submit - and I did - once. And nothing happened. And being that I don't do rejection well, I stopped trying. However, last night I prayed that God would tell me what to do - and I mean, I literally told God to tell me what to do. We are soooooo at the end of our functioning rope and we are in such a big hole that I had Chinese food for breakfast - it was clear to me that if God didn't get clearer in His communication methods or I didn't get better in my listening methods, we were going to be in some unrecoverable trouble shortly. So this morning God spoke, I listened and here we are. It was one of those God speaking moments that make you laugh out loud, because it was such a distinct answer to my prayer that I knew God understood how desperate I was feeling and that I was serious when I asked/told Him to tell me what to do. So, it happened like this....

Yesterday I was at the library to return a few things and look for a new book to read today (I'm supposed to be cleaning out the den, so I wanted to be prepared with some distraction type reading material.), and there was NOTHING! I hate going to the library and feeling like I've read every book on the shelf. I wasn't even being particularly picky, in light of den cleaning I would read just about anything. I asked the nice lady behind the desk if there was anything brand new, waiting to be put out and she said she'd take a look. I wandered a bit and found a book that looked like it might keep me entertained for a while and then I checked back in with the nice lady. She pulled out one book that had just been catalogued and was ready to hit the "Hot and New" shelf so I snatched it up without even looking at it. I was checked out and on the road back home. The two books were dumped in the backseat and forgotten about until midnight, when I got home from picking up Brendan at his friend's house. (I remember the days of a social life that rivaled that of my teenager....) When we got home, he brought the books inside and dropped them in my room and they were forgotten about again. This morning (loose term - it was about 430am) I rolled over, jostled my bladder, now had to pee, and woke myself up. Ugh. Anyways, when I couldn't go back to sleep, I picked up the book I hadn't looked at, was gravely disappointed, but the only other thing I had to do was clean the den, so I flipped it open. It was Jodi Picoult's new novel, House Rules. It's not that I don't like Jodi Picoult, but she fell into a formula about 6 novels ago and now they're all the same. Whatever - it's better than cleaning the den, right?
The story is about a single mom who has two teenage boys and one of them has Asperger's. Now, if you know her writing "thing", she writes her novels from the points of view of each of the characters. It took about 2 chapters from each character before I clued in to what was happening. The kid with Asperger's is REMARKABLY like Dylan (it is actually eerie how similar they are) - I had no idea that Asperger's and Bipolar Disorder/Obsessive Compulsive Disorder had so many overlapping symptoms. The other brother reveals his feelings about having a brother with such life interfering issues and he sounds JUST LIKE BRENDAN! Creepy... Here's where I really started paying attention though - the mom spends a lot of time talking about her crazy kid and how hard it is to keep everything regulated in the right way in order to keep things moving smoothly for everyone. Her ex is a loser who can't deal (sound familiar? anyone?) and she is just trying to make life happen, but she has to be at home for her son. When I read the mom and crazy son arguing about his breakfast and the vitamins, Omega-3's, B12 and taurine capsules he had to take, I rolled over and added Omega-3's to my grocery list because we're out! (The kid doesn't eat gluten, dairy or anything chemical because of the effects on his behaviour - we all know the difference in Dylan when he is glutamate and chemical free vs. a free for all.)HELLO!! God finally had my attention. The mom in the story works from home. She's a parenting advice columnist. This is where I started laughing, got up, got dressed, grabbed my computer and headed for my mom's and the internet.
I've got it now God. The parenting business is a go, the business cards are ready, my brother has figured out the website issues and SOS Parenting will be a reality in about a week. Fear of failure aside, because I really have nothing to lose. I also dusted off some articles and decided to give the writing thing a fair chance. Maybe you'll see a parenting column in the paper sometime soon, but one thing I know for sure - my website will have a question/answer advice section just like the character in the book. It will be my own way of remembering the day that God talked to me.